Millennials: Not who you think they are

By Alyson Burkett

Most older generations believe that a millennial is a 21-year-old living in their parents’ basement trying to figure out a career path. As shocking as it might be, the oldest millennial is turning 42 this year and the youngest is turning 27. A good portion of my peers and I fall in the younger Generation X and older millennial generations.

The challenges those of my generation faced now and in the past five years have been unique and uncharted territory to the older generations. The conversations I have with my own clients are topics I never saw being a priority the past few years. Coming out of the pandemic, the two largest concerns are how can I spend more time with my family and how can I pursue my entrepreneur dreams?

Millennials are purchasing their first or second homes, are concerned about childcare, and at the same time, they want to grow their net worth. The average age of a first-time parent is increasing and so is the cost of childcare. I live in a major metropolitan city where the average cost of care for a child younger than five years old is higher than the national average. Most of my clients are budgeting $1,500 each month for childcare and they have seen a shocking increase of almost 15% for childcare in just the past two years. While Generation X is concerned about college costs, the budgets for childcare and college are almost the same!

My generation will soon see an increase in disposable income very soon. This is a prime opportunity to pour money into investment and real estate. Millennials are inheriting wealth at a fast rate while being caught in a sandwich generation. Their priorities are becoming sophisticated while trying to balance an overwhelming number of goals and changing work environments. We want to understand and are not afraid to ask for help. We try to educate ourselves as much as our time permits. Time is a precious currency for us, so please do not call us out of the blue on a workday. We want a text message, an email or time reserved on our calendar. Please respect our time for family and work. We also understand that our work, family and desire for experiences take up all our free time.

Millennials value professional advice

We value what a professional can provide and are more than willing to pay for that help. Financially, our curiosity sets our goals, and we are working hard to fill our plates with anything we can cross off quickly. A financial advisor that understands the millennial generation will ask questions about their clients work, family, and concerns that keep them up at night. We would love to invest on the money that we are making but can you help educate up on the things we know nothing about in the next 10 years?

We are soon to be caring for - if not already - our parents and our children simultaneously. Help us create a budget for a bucket list family vacation while helping us save more on taxes and put funds in our retirement accounts.

Did you know that 10% of millennials earn more than $100,000 per year? Compared to the baby boomers and Generation X, we are on pace to see the largest increase of income in the next 10 years than any generation before us.

Our generation is evolving at an exponential rate, and we are excited to see how the financial services industry caters to us in the coming years. If your book of business has an average client age of 70 or older, you might want to consider evolving your practice to service a younger demographic. I am not saying that you need to hire a 22-year-old business major right out of school and train them to be a successful financial advisor. What you might want to consider is a financial advisor that looks entirely different than you and has a different vision for this business.

How could a multigenerational financial planning practice look different today and how could your client base change if you could keep some of the $15 trillion of movement happening by 2030?

I am curious to see whether my generation will want their CFP, CPA and estate attorney in the same office and are willing to pay a price to have fewer phone conversations? Will we find initial trade, purchase or redemption requests start via text instead of email? How will technology and customer service change in the next 10 years as the generations change?

One thing is certain - change is inevitable.

Alyson Burkett, CRPC, CFP, is a financial advisor with 21 Goats Financial Planning in Roswell, Ga. She may be contacted at [email protected].